Apples of Forbid
by Juliet's Shadow
Summary: "Of course seeing mother being burned alive until she was nothing but a pile of ash wasn't enough! Being sent to work at the whore house wasn't enough either! You have to take away the love of my life because they aren't as rich! Damn you! I'll make you suffer!" FinnickXAnnie. Rated M for intense sexual references and intense gore. Modern Day. Romeo and Juliet tale. Extreme AU.
1. Prologue

**If you're reading this, it means Graceland reached 500 reviews! Wow guys! This new story is completely AU, though it is modern day. I hope you all enjoy it. Be sure to leave a review! **

Prologue

_Annie_

While mom prepared to walk down the aisle, my sisters and I prepared to walk her down it. We each wear the same dress design, a lovely crinkle chiffon flutter sleeve dress, where the design of the floor dragging dress adds to the beauty of each dress, all in a different color. Mother got us each a gift, in addition to our dresses. She got us each a circlet with colors of the jewels matching our dress; a silver circlet with blue opal for myself, a golden circlet with emeralds for Johanna, a golden circlet with red rubies for Katniss and a silver circlet with purple amethyst for Primrose.

Johanna curls Prim's hair into beautiful corkscrew curls and Katniss does the same with my hair. Katniss has her hair in an elaborate waterfall braid and looks lovely. Johanna's hair is too short to do much anything too. When Katniss finishes my hair I realize we have forgotten our bouquets. "I'll be right back." I feel it is my duty, as the oldest triplet, to retrieve them.

I see my cousin let out an audible gasp as he sees me. "Do I really look that terrible, Cinna?" I say only half jokingly. He shakes his head.

"It is quite the opposite, Annie. I think you look wonderful. You will have all eyes on you today." He says, pulling me in for a hug.

I shake my head. "I hope not. If today doesn't go exactly according to mother's plans, she will go insane."

Cinna nods understandingly. "I suppose you came out to retrieve something? Do you want me to get it?" Cinna is by far my favorite cousin. He is extremely considerate of everything and always offers things like this.

I shake my head though. I want to fetch the flowers, save something for the big reveal. "It's fine, Cinna. I've got it." I feel the air around me pull me back and I see Cinna smiling as if nothing happened. I playfully punch him in the arm. "I'm glad you've got that out of your system. Mom will kill you if you do that during the ceremony."

Cinna smiles and nods. "I'll keep that in mind, Annie." I smile and walk off, heading to where the flowers should be. I remember the way the air currents changed suddenly around me and think I need to remember how to do that for future reference. Cinna can control air, I can control water.

In all fairness, we all have powers. It isn't uncommon anymore. Some virus decades ago infected people and the side effect was powers and it was discovered those infected with the virus could genetically pass down these skills in a different, unique way. I have the power to control water. I have never met anyone else who could control the water, even though each power is different.

Johanna and Prim are both aligned with nature, but while Johanna can use nature and plants much in the same way I use water, Prim can cause things to grow. Katniss, like our new stepfather, can create fire, but she creates a light with her fire. Our new stepdad creates heat and fury. All of their powers are fairly common though.

I walk outside, clenching and unclenching my hand, weaving water through the air absent mindedly, until I see a flower delivery truck waiting outside in the lot. The boy delivering the flowers is listening to an iPod with black headphones covering his ears. I cough and he doesn't look up. I walk closer and still get no response from him. It isn't until I drop the water I am consuming myself with and tap him on the shoulder that he notices he isn't alone. "Can I help you?" He asks, smiling a charismatic smile.

I shrug and look at him. "I need the bouquets for the bridesmaids." He nods and opens the door to the back. I cannot help but notice the way his muscles move underneath his simple green polo and how laid back, yet handsome, his messy bronze hair looks. I wish my hair was that color, instead of the chocolate brown it is.

He pulls out the four flower bunches then winks at me. "What is your name?" He asks me. I look at him confused.

"Do you always insist on getting to know your clients?" He appears to flinch at the word clients, but it is so small it may have been a trick of the light.

He smiles and gets in real close, still holding the bouquets in his hands. "Only the pretty ones and you, my dear, are exceptionally ravishing." I feel a blush crawl to my face and am about to announce my name to him, when I suddenly stop myself.

"Thank you, but my name is my business. How do I know you just don't say this kind of thing to everyone you find halfway decent looking?" I feel my heart beat in my chest. That was uncharacteristically sassy for me. I usually blush, look at my toes and mutter responses when someone compliments me.

Only my friends compliment me, or older women at churches who come up to your family simply because they think you look pretty, or women in dressing rooms who talk to your mom as you try on dresses telling them how beautiful their daughter is, and you cannot help the smile that crosses your face because someone you don't know thinks you are pretty. I guess I am pretty, maybe even beautiful, but I am not hot. I have never turned a guy's head in the hallway and a strange boy I've never met has never called me pretty.

The boy continues to look at me with handsome and mysterious sea green eyes. His eyes seldom leave my face and his eyes never linger on my chest or hips, which I find refreshing. "I think you are beautiful, Miss. I would like to know your name in the case I may run into you again."

I cannot help the smile that crosses my face and let myself be taken with this young man. "Well, I will tell you my name, but, you must tell me yours first."

He passes me the bouquets and gives his charismatic, crooked smile and doesn't announce it until he has the last bouquet, my bouquet, as the only remaining one in his hand. "My name is Finnick."

I smile. "Well, Finnick, my name is Annie." I start to walk off but he stops me.

"Can you wait here for just a moment?" We are by the fountain and my hands are full of flowers, but I think I can capture a few more stolen moments before I must return to my sisters. I nod.

Finnick looks at the fountain and makes all of the water freeze, but not like ice. He makes it stop moving and plucks a handful of water from the bottom pool of the fountain as if it is clay. He then continues to mold it until it looks just like a flower made of crystal. He places the crystal flower in my hair, beside a bobby pin used to help keep the hair out of my face. I bring one of my hands, the other balancing all the bouquets, up to the flower and touch it. It feels like glass. I smile. "Thank you." I then process everything he just did. "You control water, don't you?"

He nods and looks me in the eyes. "You do as well, don't you?" I look at him confused. "That flower would've dissolved into water if it were not being worn by another who can control water. My mother taught me how to make trinkets like that. She is the only other person who could work with water I ever met, until you." I open my mouth, suddenly worried about the flower. What if someone else in my family touches it? "Don't worry; it won't turn into water now. It is made of water, beautiful as crystal, feels like glass and his as hard as diamond, since another water controller took it. Anyone you want can wear it."

I smile. "Thank you Finnick." I start to turn to go away when he taps my shoulder once more.

"Will I be able to meet you again, Miss Annie?" He asks me.

I nod and smile. "Yes, of course, Finnick. Name the time and place and I will meet you there."

His face lights up and his smile grows even bigger, a feat I did not think possible. "Come by the flower shop any time you wish. I'll have a present for you every time you come."

I smile. "I need not be bribed to go visit you, but I shall come. I'll come as soon as my mother is off and on her way to her Honeymoon with her new husband."

He smiles and rushes to the church to open the door for me. "I will see you soon, Annie."

I nod. "I will see you soon as well, Finnick."

I walk through the halls of the church and see Cinna waiting for me. "Do you need any help, Annie?"

I shake my head and smile at him. "No thank you, Cinna. I'm good." He nods and walks to where the other men are waiting.

I walk into the room where my sisters finish preparing themselves. Prim is the first one to take her bouquet and the first one to notice the new ornament in my hair, accompanying my circlet. "Annie, where did you get that? It is so beautiful!" She asks, smiling ear to ear.

I pat her head with my blue flowered bouquet. "The boy who delivered the flowers gave it to me."

Jo sees how much I am smiling and bops me on the back of my head with her bouquet. "Annie fancies him!"

I shake my head. "I do not! I just find him charming and refreshing. It is nice to see someone who can be charming without having a stick up their butt."

The four of us giggle because the boys we normally associate with are uptight and rigid, all incredibly polite and beautiful, but rigid. It is what comes with being of the highest class in our society. I do not know what class Finnick was from, he was as beautiful as a first class citizen so it is possible he was of our class. I don't know. I will certainly find out next time I see him. I touch the flower once again and smile. It is amazing how he turned the water into the flower. Katniss notices how peculiar it is. "How did he make that? Can he control stone? It looks like it is made of crystal. Crystal is a stone, right?"

I shake my head. "It is hard as a diamond, looks like crystal, feels like glass and is made out of water." The girls gasp and look at it again. "He said his mother taught him how to make it."

Johanna nods. "That is truly something special, Annie."

It is strange how different Johanna, Katniss and I are. We are triplets, shared the same womb, but all ended up with different powers and personalities. We all look vaguely alike, dark hair and smaller medium builds, but when push comes to shove, I know I have my sisters there for me. The three of us are best friends. Prim takes after all of us in one way or another. She has my joy, Johanna's strength and Katniss' compassion, making her seem angelic in comparison. None of us mind at all though. We are the ones who raised her. We made her the way she is.

We hear a knock on the door. "Come in!" Prim yells.

In steps Cinna. "We are going to start in ten minutes. It was asked if you four could be in your places."

We look at one another and help straighten the finishing touches on us, and then we grab our bouquets and file out the door.

We wait in the lobby outside the doors of the sanctuary as we wait for mother. We see her come in white with a silver tiara holding a shimmery white veil in place. We straighten ourselves up immediately. We love our mother dearly, but she is very proper. She is exactly what a woman of our status should be, unlike the rest of us, who are all immature and fun loving. She loves us all dearly though. "You all look lovely, girls."

We smile and look up at our mother. Prim is gaping with huge eyes. "Mother, you look like a princess or a queen!" We all laugh in response and wait as we let the last few moments pass before Mother marries Coriolanus Snow.

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**Again, please review! It would mean a lot to me! Thanks guys and I hope you are liking it so far! **


	2. Playing Pretend

**Okay, so it took a while, but here is the first chapter! Yay! It did take a while because school did start (gross) and I'm not quite sure with my writing on this chapter. I know where I want this story to go, but getting there is hard, you know? Well, I hope y'all like it!**

_Mikey Jacquez: I am very glad you love it! This chapter took forever to write! I hope it turned out halfway decent._

_Peace Love Hunger games: Oh me too! I'm glad you like it! Thanks a ton! _

_Alexandra Jackson rocks Hades: Very glad you're enjoying it! Here is the next chapter!_

_MiaBelles: Lol it's great! I'm very glad for the 500! I hope you enjoy this story. _

_MeaganOneDirection: Oh I love Romeo and Juliet! (As you could probably tell...) I'm very glad you like it!_

_Sarag7821: Awesome! I hope you enjoy :D_

_FallenPetals712: I am such a dark person (As you know... mwahahahaha)_

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Chapter 1- Playing Pretend

_Annie_

One year later I sit in my bed in the loft I share with my three sisters. There is a steel bunk bed Katniss shares with Prim against one wall, where Prim gets the bottom bunk because she tends to sleepwalk, and an addition two beds for Johanna and I. We have one television and one chair as well as a bathroom we all share. We have a bedside table between the beds Jo and I claim and a single closet for the four of us to store our clothes. It is a small bedroom for four girls, but we have made it work for six months. There is no reason to stop now. At least we have a balcony.

Our room is completely separate from the rest of the house. We have to walk out of the back door, and up creaky wooden stairs to reach the loft. It is difficult to do when it rains. We finally convinced Stepfather to buy a rail to put on the stairs. It is a cheap plastic one, but it works. I cannot complain. He is probably still upset of when mother died. It was a month after their Honeymoon we were helping in the kitchen, helping our new stepdad make a dinner when the phone call came. Someone had burned our mother alive right in front of the police station, as if they were trying to be caught. Everyone could hear mother's screams, but there was a ten foot high wall of flames around the area and water users are hard to come by, so there was nothing to douse the flames until the fire department arrived.

We were all there by that point. I wanted to help, to scream at them I could control water, let me help but they refused to let me. I can still smell her burning flesh and can hear the sudden silence, a thud on the concrete, the smell of more burning hair and cotton until nothing remained of her but a pile of gray ash.

I ran. I didn't know how to take it. Women of high class never die. I run until I see a flower shop and I remembered the boy who gave me the flowers at my mother's wedding. I still had the flower in my hair. I get in there and collapse on the floor, crying my eyes out and disturbing customers, yet they all give my sympathetic looks. "What could have happened to her to make her so upset?" "Why does she smell like smoke?" "What is the gray dust covering her?"

I let my tears fall and shiver at the thought of what is in the dust. It is the ashes of my mother, covering my dark hair, making it gray. I cannot stomach the thought. Finally, someone calls an employee to come check me out. I recognize who it is, and recognition sparks in his eyes too. It is Finnick.

"Annie, is that you?" I nod, crying and letting myself hold onto him. He doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around me. Eventually, he picks me up like a doll and carries me behind the counter and up the stairs to a small room with mattresses on the floor with homemade quilts for sleeping, a small closet for clothes, propped open and filled with clean polo's of different colors and a small fireplace for warmth in the winter. I suddenly know what class he is in, the lowest, but that doesn't matter. I never saw the point of the classes. It keeps the rich, rich but doesn't let the poor gain anything. It isn't a disease that can be passed around.

I cry until hiccups escape my lips and tears no longer poor out of my eyes. Finnick still holds me close to him, but quietly asks, "What happened, Annie?"

I look up at him and start to shiver at the memory. Finnick pulls a quilt over my shoulders and looks at me once again. "My mother died." He opens his mouth to apologize, but I keep talking before he can say anything else. "Someone burned her alive until she turned to ashes. Through the flames we could see the skin start to bubble and blister and melt off of her. It was painful to watch and I cannot imagine how she felt."

Months later I still am not recovered from the trauma of seeing an innocent woman be burned to death. I wake up with scratches on my legs, scabbed over and know I scratched at myself in my sleep, imagining the blisters that covered her covered me.

I look around and notice I am, once again, the last one awake. My alarm clock woke me up at seven in the morning, and everyone is still lounging around the room in their pajamas. Katniss is reading a book on her bunk, Johanna has ear buds in, listening to the hardest music she has because she knows I have little tolerance for it when I am awake, and Prim is on the floor, lying on her stomach, watching the television. She is the first to notice I am awake. "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty."

I shrug. "Sleeping Ugly is more like it. There is no way I look good this early in the morning."

Prim comes up behind me and gives me a hug. "You're always pretty Annie! I wish I looked like you." I roll my eyes and walk to the bathroom, keeping the door open since I am only running a brush through my hair and trying to decipher a way to make my side bangs stay out of my face. "I'm serious, Annie!"

"I'm sure you are Prim. I just think it's funny because I would kill to look like you." Prim gives a cheeky smile and goes back to watching her show. I pull my hair up into an elastic prison, giving it an elegant ponytail causing my naturally straight hair, long enough to go past my shoulder blades, to fall just past my shoulders. I then put lotion on my face and apply a powder foundation and a loose mineral translucent powder. I then apply a rosy pink blush to my high cheekbones, apply black eyeliner and mascara to my eyes and a clear, shiny lip gloss to my lips. I smile, thinking I actually look halfway decent for once. I then go to the closet and go to the rack deemed mine. I grab a pair of high waist skinny jeans, a black and white zig zag shirt and my white sequin sperry's.

I notice Katniss is pulling on a pair of skinny jeans, a nicer orange and white vertical striped shirt and a pair of knockoff Uggs before she pulls her hair into a side braid. "Why do we even have to go to school?" She mutters under her breath.

Johanna shrugs on a gray and black horizontal striped shirt and a pair of dark boot cut jeans, as well as a pair of black converse. "I swear, school is the worst thing ever invented."

We chuckle at the jokes we try to tell ourselves. We like to think we are going to school this morning. It's nice to pretend, isn't it? No, stepdad said we are going away. We will be back once we earn enough money to keep him happy for a long time. I let my shoulders fall. I will not be able to see Finnick until that time has come. That time will not come for a while. I grab the flower he gave to me and put it into my ponytail. He has given me other gifts, a small turtle because I think they are adorable, three necklaces with an anchor, a message in a bottle and a fish, a pair of shoes that look like they belonged to Cinderella, along with other things. I told him I wasn't going to see him until I made my stepfather happy. It was frightening to hear his response.

"You mean he is sending you away?" He asked me. I had no choice but to nod. "Do you know where you are going?" I shake my head. "You cannot leave, Annie."

"What choice do I have, Finn? If I don't he'll do something much worse. You know he hasn't been the same since my mother died." My voice is quiet, shakey.

"It means he should hold you closer! Not send you away!" His hands are fists, clenched at his side. "Wait for me Annie. I'm not going to be anything without you."

I nodded. "I know you will wait. I will come back for you."

Of course when I told Finnick this, it sounded like he knew where he was going to send us. Maybe he will go to find me. "Girls, are you ready?" Stepdad calls up to us.

Taking a look at all of us, I see we are. Prim has the circlet in her hair but I take it out and put it on her nightstand. "We don't know where we are going. I don't want you to lose it." Prim nods, blinking away tears. I feel like crying too.

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**Yawn yawn snore snore awful beginning! I am so sorry but it will get better, I promise! Please review and tell em what y'all think! **

**Special thanks to: Peace Love Hunger games, Mikey Jacquez, MiaBelles, Laura2810, Fire Kitty 12, Epicblonde52 and FallenPetals712 for adding this story to their favorites! It means a lot guys!**

**Thanks to me 8 epic followers as well!**

**-Juliet**


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